Epona's Song
by TheClausYoucan'tsee
Summary: When Link is found close to dead in the middle of Hyrule field by Malon, she takes him in and makes her own attempt at nursing him back to health, but she ends up realizing something she didn't want too. MaLink one-shot. Reviews would be nice but you don't have too.


Hey guys~ :3 It's gonna take meh quite a while too get the next chapter of comfort up, so I thought I'd upload a quick LinkxMalon one shot too keep you guys happy :3  
'Kay then. Here we go~! :D  
P.S. Sorry if it's a little dodgey, wrote this at like, one am xD/

Death.  
That was the only thing going through the hero of time's mind right now.  
All he could think about was Death.  
Was he going to die?  
Left alone in the middle of Hyrule Field with a bleeding head?  
He was cold, so unbearably cold.. He felt as if all the nerves in his body had somehow been frozen over, then slowly and painfully defrosted.  
He could barely move, his whole body shaking uncontrollably as he watched the blood spill from his head and from the stab wound in his side.  
Link had been the cause of many a creature's death in the past, and even the cause of some humans'.  
But he never imagined that his own would come so soon.

"Please," He wheezed, "Someone help me... I... I-" He was cut off mid-sentence by a hacking cough, globs of blood spilling out and onto his tunic as he did so, and then, with his last dying breath, he gave one last plea for help "I don't... want ... it... too end... This.. Way..."  
Then his head lolled over to the side, and it all went black.  
Navi gently rubbed against his cheek, reciting her common phrase of "Wake up..." But with a sad and depressing undertone.  
"C'mon... Wake up... Listen! Listen! Listen! Wake up!" Navi had broken down in tears by the first 'Listen!', She knew he was dead, but insisted too keep trying.  
"Listen! Hey! Link! Wake up! C'mon! Please! Wake up! Hello? Wake up! C'mon LISTEN!"

"Oh! Cute Ocarina! Are you going to play along with me~?"  
That was the question the beautiful girl from the ranch had asked oh so many years ago.

And now that same song that they had met by, was the song to save him.

Link gradually came too.  
Everything was fuzzy and shadowed, and he could barely even make out his own hands.  
His breathing was in ragged gasps, unable too sustain anything more.  
He felt weak, he couldn't even slightly lift his arm.  
His head was throbbing, and his ears were ringing, like he had just been in some kind of mass explosion.  
But there was two things that made him sure he wasn't dead.  
He was warm, and he had lost his prior state of panic.  
It was like something was soothing him, and once the ringing in his ears had died down enough, he could make out the humming of a familiar song.  
Epona's Song to be exact.  
But who was humming?

Link tried to sit himself up, everything still a blurry shadow, groaning in pain as he held himself up with his elbow.  
But the the humming stopped, and the mystery person held him up, then gently laid him back down, saying in a soft and gentle tone; "Shh, don't push yourself, Hun.. Just lay back down..."  
After this, he was sure of who it was.  
It was Malon.

He attempted to say her name, but there was an unbearable stinging in his throat when he tried to speak.

"Just go back to sleep.." Malon soothed, gently stroking the boy's cheek.

Link shook his head.  
He had questions he wanted answered.

"For me~?" She continued caressing his neck and cheek, a worried small crawling across her lips.

It took a few minutes of a strange version of an argument, but Link eventually gave up, and slowly fell asleep, still in an immense amount of pain.

Malon sighed and went back to her humming, sitting in a chair next to the sleeping hero of time, and watching over him.  
Making sure he didn't leave her again.

Link awoke the next day, covered in blankets and with an Empty Chair sitting next to him, he could smell the lofting scent of what seemed to be some kind of soup coming from another room, probably the kitchen.  
The smell was Pumpkin Soup to be exact, and too top it off, he could still hear the humming of Malon.

He laid there for a while, enjoying the delicious scent.  
When all of a sudden, Malon walked in with a bowl of steaming Soup and buttered bread on a tray.  
Oh, and of course, a bottle of Warm Lon-Lon Milk.

Link faked being asleep to avoid being yelled at by the ranch girl he knew so well, of course she easily saw straight through his ruse.  
"I can tell you're awake you know~." She giggled softly, sitting down next to him in her chair and placing the tray on her lap.  
"But that's actually quite convenient for me, because you, Fine Sir, need to eat."  
She put one hand around Link's back and held him up in a sitting position.  
"Okay then, open up~!" Malon smiled warmly, dipping the bread in the soup and feeding it too Link, little by little, as he was in a such a state that he was having trouble chewing and swallowing.  
Eventually he finished the whole bowl off, and all the bread.  
"Do you want the Milk..?"  
Link answered with a nod and a weak smile, and Malon brought the bottle up to his mouth and, well, fed it too him.  
After he was finished, she wiped the Milk from his mouth.

"I'll be right back, gonna go put these dishes away~."

After about five minutes, Malon returned to the frail Link's side, and gently took hold of his hand, lightly squeezing it as she watched his now sleeping face.

"What have you been doing to get into this condition, Link..." Malon whispered to herself, stroking his hair as he grimaced in pain ever so slightly, trying to calm him down.

A few days passed, and Link's condition didn't change at all.  
All he did was sleep, and if he wasn't sleeping, he was eating Soup or listening to Malon sing.

After about a week or so of him being at the ranch with Malon, she realized Link smelt, and since his fever caused by an infected stab wound I'm only mentioning now because I forgot about it wasn't going down, she decided to give the hero a bath.

"Wait... What did you just say?" Link mumbled, his ability to talk returning.

"I'm gonna give you a bath!"

"But.. You'll see me naked!"

"So, as long as it makes you feel better, I don't give a crap!"

"But! Naked!"

"But, but, but!" Malon mocked "Now get out of bed, if you can't walk, I'll help you, okay?"

He sighed and gave in, blushing a deep red "Fine, you win. I'll take a bath."

Link stepped into the hot water, and sat down against the bath, the water tinting a brownish red from a Mixture of Dirt and dried blood.  
His bandages had been removed, revealing the scabs, bruises and cuts that were left behind from his near death experience.  
"..." Malon cringed as she started washing his hair. "Just how long has it been since you bathed?!"

"Seven or so years, maybe?" Link sarcastically replied, the bath water's colour deepening as the amount of grime, dirt and blood he gained from his travels washed out of his hair, returning it to it's usual dark blonde complexion.

"Gah... Anyways~, we had a farmhand here a few years back who was about your height, you can borrow some of the clothes he left behind.."

Link nodded in agreement as he got out of the bath, wrapping a towel around himself then gesturing to Malon that it was okay too look.

A few hours later, Link was back asleep, except this time, curled up in Malon's arms.  
The reason for this, was because on this particular night, He just couldn't get to sleep.  
He had tried everything, but just couldn't.  
So Malon, in her usual kind nature, hugged him to sleep, and there he slept, right up until this very moment.  
Of course, Malon hadn't been able to sleep the whole time since she found Link laying in Hyrule Field on the brink of death, she had Carried him with her own hands back to the ranch, and gave up her bed for him to rest.  
The Boy had slept for three straight days after this, and Malon didn't sleep.  
The day he woke up, Malon didn't sleep.  
The day he finally said something without coughing blood, Malon didn't sleep.  
She was just so god damned worried about Link, it was driving her mad.

And today, the day that he fell asleep in her arms, was the day she finally slept.

And she loved every waking minute of it.

The next morning, Malon awoke, a thick, white, mist covering the windows, and the faint pitter-patter of raindrops hitting the straw and tin roof of the ranch, giving the room an almost serene feel.

There was one problem though- it was bloody freezing.  
And she realized quickly that that certain fact I just mentioned, was dealing a large toll on Link.  
She could feel him shivering, and his skin had gone cold as ice.

"Link... Stay with me now, I'm gonna get you warm, okay?" Her voice hitched, noticing that his breathing had slowed dramatically, like he was about to die.

She quickly grabbed an extra blanket and wrapped it around Link, laying him down on the bed again, she stopped for a quick moment to think.

Then she got an idea.  
An idea that would embarrass both herself and the boy she loved so much, but one that would work.

"Now..." She thought "... How am I gonna bring myself to do this...?"

Her plan was simple, the best way to warm Link, in the warped opinion of Malon, would be to strip him of ALL his clothes, cover him in blankets completely, light the fire, and just let him sleep.  
Now, the naked part, was because in Malon's warped opinion, he'd get more heat from the blankets and fire if he had no clothes, because according to her, clothes sort of stopped the heat

"Okay then..." A more then visible blush crept across her cheeks as she pulled the blanket down off of the sleeping hero ever so slightly, he was already shirtless due to a heavily bandaged stab wound and a few other minor scratches and bruises that would heal in no time, but would pain Link if covered up.

And so, she stripped him off his pants and underwear, folding them up and putting them on the bedside table.

So now she had Link, Naked in front of her, and she was embarrassed.  
VERY Embarrassed.

Malon gently pulled the blankets back up to his upper chest and kissed his forehead, holding his hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.  
"Please, sleep well, my love..."

Link didn't wake up for two days, he just slept, like the world around him didn't exist, which worried Malon, but she knew he needed rest.  
So, in turn for doing what she really wanted to do, (which was curl up on the ground sucking her thumb and crying over Link's condition), She sat beside him, holding his hand and guiding him through this and all his nightmares.

And that was all she wanted, nothing else.  
This moment, for her, was pure and utter bliss.


End file.
